Get Real About Climate Change, with Seth Shostak

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About This Episode

Seth Shostak, SETI Institute Senior Astronomer, is back hosting StarTalk All-Stars as he welcomes co-host Eugene Mirman and Ken Caldeira, Climate Scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Science, to sharpen the discussion on climate change. Ken explains why there are better things to argue besides the well-established science proving climate change. Seth questions the consequences of the new rift in Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf, leading Eugene to develop a new appreciation for the movie Waterworld. You’ll get details on some of the plausible, and not so plausible, plans to combat climate change including reflecting sunlight away from the Earth, putting a sunshade satellite at the L1 point (the gravitationally neutral point between the Earth and Sun), carbon capture and storage, nuclear power, “awesome batteries,” freeway painting, and planting an insane amount of trees. Explore the difference between weather and climate. Find out what the U.S. will look like when the ice sheets melt, and what the biggest disaster was to ever happen to the Earth. You’ll also hear why human relocation because of climate change is like having Halloween without enough candy, and about the possibilities of a global electrical grid. All that plus, our panel answers fan-submitted Cosmic Queries about climate change like “What contributions to climate change are due to the Milankovitch cycles?” and “Are the number of massive hurricanes due to global warming or better record keeping?”